A Dark Light
by Ghost-girl-writes
Summary: Nero has been beaten, and tormented all his life. Ten years ago he was sold off to a supposed 'Jedi Master' because of his discovered powers of the force, but after he escapes with the help of Resistance pilot Poe, Nero doesn't know where to go from there. And why does he feel as if someone is watching him? Is it just in his head, or is the force trying to warn Nero?
1. Chapter 1

**_A Dark Light_**

A Star Wars Story

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

 ** _Chapter 1: A boy in Wayland_**

As the mid-morning sun slowly reached it's highest point in the sky, a soft sigh came from behind an elderly man dressed in a dull red tunic with battered brown belts strapping it to his body. The older male had greying brown hair and a beard that grew out a few inches from his face. As the man continued walking down the forest path he looked up to see the market place not too far ahead. The man felt for his pack that was on his back a bit, making sure that everything he needed was in there as the two males grew closer and closer to the market.

The street music was what the two travelers heard first, then came the light chattering of people of all ages as they reached the outer rim of the market place. As the other male slid the pack from his shoulder he turned to look at the shorter male that had been trailing behind him ever so slightly. "You best not act up again boy, you hear me?" He asked the shorter male.

The older male's companion nodded his head, though it was hard to tell with the large tattered up cloak that covered most of his body. The article of clothing nearly swallowed the boy whole at it's size and the robe's sleeves stopped a few inches after his fingers. "None of that galavanting and drawing attention to yourself like last time. Unless you want another whipping." He told the boy as he started walking up towards one of the many vendors.

"No, Master Ja'har." The boy said softly as he stayed a few feet back as his master barter with the man running the vendor.

He watched as Master Ja'har took out a few items from the pack and traded the man, receiving a rather large sack of coins in return. After a few more moments of bantering between the two men, the older male came back and untied the pouch of coins, giving it a good shake, and letting the coins clink together for a moment. The younger male then watched his master dip his hand into the pouch and dropped a few coins into the young male's hands. It was like this every time they came to a place like this. His master would sell something for a high price, even though the young boy knew it was wrong. Mainly because the things his master sold to the vendors were fakes. He tried explaining, and even pleaded for his master to stop his tricking, but received a rather harsh punishment after that.

Since then, the younger male never said a word about his master's doing, too fearful of what the other may do to him if he went against his words. "Good," the older man said, taking a look at the shorter male and scrunching up his face as he looked at him, "and make sure to keep that hood of yours down." He said in a bitter tone, using his free hand to yank the younger male's hood down further than it already was.

"Yes Master Ja'har." The young boy said and quickly slipped the coins into the inside pocket of his cloak.

After giving the taller man a short bow, he left his sight, making sure his hood was down as he walked along the rows and rows of vendors and people. He knew that his master did not take a liking to him, and his eyes more specifically. When he had been born, Nero, had very pale eyes. At first, his former caretaker had told him that when his mother birthed him, he had the bluest eye they had ever seen before. But just after a day or two after being born, his eyes started growing paler and paler. Afraid that he had become sick, his former caretaker took him to a medical personnel, who told his caretaker that there was nothing wrong with the child.

A week or so after he was born, Nero's eyes were practically all white, saved from the faint hints of blue when one looked very closely. On top of his pale eyes, his hair was an even paler shade of blonde, his skin did not fare much different either.

As Nero wandered the streets for a while he looked into his cloak's inside pocket where he had stored the coins. He was never given many, just enough for a meal and maybe even a new article of clothing if his master was feeling pleasant. Though, Nero would never want to get rid of the old, worn out cloak, since it was the only thing he had left to remind of his parents.

As the sun moved across the blue sky, Nero found himself in a small tavern where music played softly in the background by a band with various different instruments. He eventually found his way toward the large, circle table that was the bar and moved forward when a human moved out of the way. The male looked around until a server asked him what he wanted. Nero ordered a small Rummy Tonic and a bowl of something warm. The server then excused himself to go make his order.

Nero sat quietly on the chair as he waited, spinning one of his silver coins on the counter to bypass his time. He did just as his master had told him to do and drew little attention to himself, periodically making sure that his hood covered most of his face and didn't look up often. After waiting a while, and starting to hear the rumbles of his stomach start to grow louder, the same server came back over and handed him his things. He thanked him softly and handed over five silver coins.

When the server left, the young blonde looked down at his food and smiled softly. It was rather nice when his master and him found a place such as this to stop and spend a night, rather than sleeping out in the woods or near the base of the many mountain ranges that were scattered across the planet of Wayland. It was a nice treat to have something warm in his belly, rather than eating discussing food that his master forced him to eat while they traveled.

The young apprentice, dug into the warm broth of his soup and ate as if he hadn't eaten in three months. The warm liquid heated him up in the most pleasant of ways and sighed after finishing most of it. Nero then went to drinking his drink, closing his eyes at the refreshing taste of the tonic washed away the taste of the broth and replaced it with an exhilarating one instead. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip and started to move to get up when he heard a small comtion towards the back of the tavern. He looked up to see a rather large man, man-handling a woman, as the woman tried to pry the other's hands off of her.

On instinct, Nero's hand reached for his belt, feeling the handle of his lightsaber as he stared across the room but after a moment placed his hand back over on the counter, remembering that he had told his master that he wouldn't cause or draw any attention to himself. Instead, he did something that was less attention grabbing.

The pale eyed male reached out for the force, slowly feeling it around him, like one could feel the wind on their bare skin. His master would beat him for doing something as this, but Nero could not stand people getting hurt. He hated it more than anything. As he felt out for the force, his eye zeroed in on the male, waiting for him to make eye contact with him. It didn't take long of the other feel his eyes on him and when he did Nero whispered softly under his breath.

The man who had been groping the woman suddenly stopped his acting, much to the surprise of the woman. Nero heard the faint apology and watched silently as he stood up and walked out of the tavern. It didn't take the woman long to notice this was a chance and watched her leave through what looked like a back door. He waited a few moments longer before getting up from his seat and leaving the tavern to wander back out into the streets.

A few hours had passed and the sun looked like it was about to start setting in the sky. Master Ja'har had always told him to meet with him on the opposite end of town when they were done doing whatever it was they wanted to do in the market place. As Nero grew closer towards the opposite edge of the large open market place, he felt around for his coins. He had three silver coins left, which couldn't really buy him much. The pale blonde male looked around as he saw a few food stands selling various foods and sweets. Just as he was about to go over and get a treat for himself he felt something behind him.

Nero turned around quickly to see who it was, only to be met with the unbusied street behind him. He stared for a moment before turning back around to go over to the stand. However, the watchful feeling came back and once again, Nero turned around, his eyes narrowing trying to find who was watching him. Though, he couldn't blame anyone if they were staring at him because of his pale features, but he had made sure to keep his head down as well as his hood while he was wandering around so no one could have truly seen him.

He felt a strange sensation in the force, as if someone had plucked a giant string of an instrument, but then stopped it. Nero turned back towards the stand, and instead of buying something for himself, he handed his coins to a young girl who was eyeing one of the sweets hungrily, and started walking again, his pace quicken.

By the time he reached the edge of the market place, he was surprised by what he saw waiting there. His master was sitting on a tiny speeder, and another, much more banged up looking one was hovering beside him, the seat empty. Nero wandered over to his master before he was snapped at for taking too long and to get on the speeder. He wasted no time and hopped on it. It took the smaller male a minute to get the hang of the controls but eventually got it and sped off, trailing behind his master as usual.

Nero had been in Master Ja'har care now for almost ten years, the longest he's ever been with a caretaker. Though Master Ja'har wasn't really a caretaker, he was harsh, unforgiving, sneaky, and greedy. Yet, still to this day he didn't really know why the older man bought him off of his last caretaker. Yes, Nero knew that he could do things the other children couldn't do like, jump higher, run faster, and knew so many things that no one has ever said before in front of the child that many were baffled as to how he knew such things. However, when the unfaithful day came, the day that Nero discovered that he was even more different than he thought he was, was when he grew so angry at one of the children for hitting him constantly, that without really knowing what he was doing, the child was suddenly floating in mid-air, gasping for breath. The young boy had remembered the beating that night, it was one of the worst he ever had. Then, the next day, on his eighth birthday, he was sold to Master Ja'har and was told that the man would help him learn to control his powers.

It was a load of rubbish.

Master Ja'har was a strong man, one who was force sensitive. Nero already had a lightsaber, one that his father before him had used and given to his mother to give to him. After his mother's untimely death however, he was given the weapon when he was sold off to Master Ja'har. Now, at the young age of eighteen, he has yet to truly learn anything about the force or how to master his emotions. The only thing that Ja'har had taught the young male was not to disobey him, and to keep his mouth shut when he was being punished. He never liked being attached to the male and had begged him time and time again to let him go off on his own, that he didn't profit from him since they never stayed in one place for long. But whenever he asked why he didn't let him go, he was always met with the same answer of, "This'll be worth something in the long run. Now stop nagging me and keep walking." Always the same, and whenever he kept pressing the subject, he was then normally answered with a harsh slap to the face.

However, now with the use of the speeder, Nero might just get his wish. He kept his mouth shut for a long time, and didn't say anything until the last of the sun's rays bleed in between the thick forest around them. "Why speeders? Why now?" Nero asked as it looked like his master was starting to slow down a bit.

"What I do is none of your concern." He snapped at him, looking slightly over his shoulder at the young male as they locked eyes.

His eyes were a clouded hues of browns as the sunlight hit them. "It is my concern when it involves me." Nero told him as he looked away from him and turned his eyes back on to the overgrown path ahead of him.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to question your master?" He asked.

"If you would just answer my questions the first time and not dance around all of them, I wouldn't have to question everything that you make us do." Nero said to him, his grip slightly tightening around the handles of the speeder.

"The answer will come to you soon enough boy, and I'll be rolling in wealth." He said as he eventually slowed the speeder to a stop.

Nero looked almost shocked at his master as he dismounted the speeder and got the pack of things from the back of the vehicle and started to untie it. He didn't know what that really meant for him, though he wouldn't be so shocked if it meant that he was going to sell him off, and he just got the speeders as a quicker way to get to the dealer. Though, he guessed nothing was worse than having to spend more time with the lousy excuse of a master.

Once they sent up their makeshift camp, Nero went to go fetch some fallen branches to make a fire to keep them warm that night. He took longer than he needed to gather the pieces of bark and wood, the young blond simply wanted time away from his master, even though he knew he shouldn't feel like this. Nero should want to be by his master's side all the time so that he could learn how to control and use his powers, and yet here he was, knowing barely anything more than what he knew the day he was sold off into this twisted, deformed training to become a Jedi.

Though he knew it was never going to happen, not while he was still tied to Master Ja'har. He had read in an old book while they were traveling, some of the ways of a Jedi knight, and from what he knew, Master Ja'har was a very, very poor master and practically knew nothing, and yet he still showed powers of the force in simpler things. Nero felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but as he started walking back, he eyed the speeder that rested silently next to their sleeping bags. All he had to do was wait for his master to fall into a deep sleep and he could just leave and never come back.

* * *

It wasn't long for Master Ja'har to fall into a drunken sleep. With all the money that he got from selling all those fake and forged items, he got himself a few bottles of some heavy drinks and nearly downed them all himself. Now it was just a waiting game for Nero, and he had waited a very long time to go off on his own and finally be free, a few more minutes would be a breeze. When time continued to move forward, Nero grabbed one of the old packs and started to fill it with food and gear he could use or sell along his way so that he could put as much distance as he could between them.

As he filled up a fair share of goods, he stopped as he watched the elderly man roll in his sleeping bag before muttering some slurred words before falling silent once again. He then walked over to the speeder and quickly fastened some straps to the pack so that it wouldn't fall off and turned it on. It gave a small sputter before humming softly as it hovered in the air. He gave his resting master one last look, to make sure he hadn't waken, before slowly pushing the speeder as quietly as he could away from the makeshift camping site. Once Nero was far enough away, he hopped on the speeder and took off into the night and didn't look back.

The pale eyed force wielder continued to ride the speeder for a while before he rested for a moment and decided to take a short nap, assured that he put enough distance between him and where his master was for now. He climbed off the speeder and used his pack as a pillow and slowly rested his head against it.

However, before he could settle into a comfortable, short sleep, he suddenly felt the force around him stir. It was enough for him to sit up and look around, and again feel as if something was tugging at a string, only this time with more vigor and power. The power behind it almost scared him but instead he stood up, brushing the moist mud off of his cloak and slung his pack back onto the speeder and hopped back on it. He revved the engine of the small, narrow speeder before he took off in the direction he could sense the pulling from.

It was a while before he saw anything and for a few fleeting moments thought it was just his tired mind playing tricks on him before he saw it off in the distance. It was hard to see it in the thick, darkness of the forest, but he saw the faint, lights coming from it. From where he was at the moment, Nero couldn't see exactly what it was, but he did know that it looked big. The outline of the thing was ginormous, and what seemed like the top of it looked to be at least one hundred feet tall.

As he got closer he slowed the speeder down until it came to a halt. Slowly, Nero slid off the speeder, reaching with his right hand to rest it against the handle of his lightsaber. The surrounding trees that were near the thing were all torn down and smashed into a million pieces all over the forest floor. Then, as Nero finally moved from the treeline and into the big opened clearing, he finally saw what the huge thing was.

An _Imperial_ ship.

More specifically, an Imperial Light Cruiser. Nero started at it for what seemed like forever. He wandered how no one could have found this by now and didn't say anything to anyone?

The blond looked around to see if anyone was in sight. It was just him, and yet he still felt the pulling sensation of the force, much stronger now, wanting to pull him towards the crashed ship. As he got closer, he could see the emblem of the Galactic Empire on the back of the ship where the two hangar doors were blown open. Again, Nero looked around as he entered the abandon ship, slowly looking around. The blond noticed the holes of various sizes littering the top of the ship, letting some of the moon light into the open room. Exposed wires and rubble were all over the place, but from what he could sense, that was it, no other lifeforms were in the ship, and yet he still felt the pull of the force deeper into the ship.

The pale eyed male didn't know if he should go any further in, but dismissed the thought when he was sure that nothing could be inside the old, broken ship. He walked further into the ship's hull, and as he did so, slipped his lightsaber from his belt but didn't press the button that would light the crystal inside of it.

He kept walking, being mindful of the rubble that was scattered around the floor. He kept moving to where he felt the force pulling him and suddenly felt like his nerves were running wild, so much so that he felt his heart rate spike and even started to feel the cold sweat against his forehead. Though, he kept moving forward until he finally entered the command station of the ship. Ever so slowly he stepped inside and wandered around. Nero could see the miles of forest that jutted out in every direction from the broken glass panels that lined the huge section of the ship. Nero walked slower to the huge line of control panels so that he could look out of the shattered windows and up into the night's sky.

 _'I wonder if anybody else knows that this is here?_ ' He thought to himself.

As soon as he thought that, he turned around as he heard a creaking sound and then something falling off in the distance inside the ship. Though, he wasn't distracted for long when he suddenly felt the force give one last tug forward. Nero spun around and suddenly the urge to look back up at the sky filled him and leaned forward on the control panel. ' _It's so strange.'_ He thought, ' _I don't see any bodies...maybe they all got off?_ ' He pondered for a few moments, and barely noticed that the force had suddenly settled itself, like a calming river.

That was when Nero stepped back from the control panel and felt the hilt of his lightsaber jolt something on the panel. Then, all the button from the panel started lighting up on their own. The sudden event shocked Nero and stumbled backwards, feeling his hood slip from his head as he caught himself on one of the other panel control boards behind him. He quickly straighten himself out as he stared at the controls lighting up.

He had no clue what to do at this point and quickly looked around for an exit, not wanting to get caught or possibly have someone see the lights turning on, especially his master. As Nero turned around to leave the control room he heard clanking coming down from the hall that he had walked through to get to the control room. He froze as he heard the mechanical sounds of footsteps drawing closer and closer to the room and finally saw the source of the noise. A wrecked and half missing Super Battle Droid entered the control room. It's hand locked out in front of him, pointing the gun that was attached to his wrist at Nero.

Just before the droid could fire a lethal shot at Nero, his lightsaber came to life, flashing a red glare across the room as he blocked the shot and quickly sliced the droid in half, leaving it in a twitching mess on the floor.

With his heart racing in his chest now, he looked around to possibly exit through one of the broken windows, just in case more old droids were still in the place, but instead of finding a window in front of him, Nero found a hologram instead. He froze in his spot and felt his throat try and swallow around the lump that has slowly started growing in the back of his throat. He could see that the hologram was of a man, sitting behind a control panel somewhere that was not this ship.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He heard the scrambled voice of the man, who Nero could see was dressed in some sort of uniform.

The pale eyed male didn't say anything and watched as someone came up behind him and looked to be staring right at him. "What's wrong over here?" The male that had came over asked him.

"I don't know, I got a distress signal from...this isn't right. Something must be wrong with the programming." The male from before said.

"What's wrong with the programming?" The second man asked.

"It says I'm getting a distress signal from an Imperial cruise ship." The man and he looked to be doing something with all the buttons and switches on the panel in front of him.

"I'm going to try and access the video control." He said and as he said that, the hologram twitched and spurted a bit before becoming clear again.

As it did so, he saw the two men staring yet again, and this time, Nero knew it was at him. He had been so shocked by what was going on that he hadn't been thinking. "Holy shit, it's a-" Nero swung his lightsaber above his head and brought it down on the transmitter, cutting off the signal.

In a panic, Nero quickly fled the ship as fast as he possibly could and quickly got back on his speeder. He revved the engine once and rode off as fast as the speeder could go back into the woods, and away from the ship. Nero knew that there was a town that they had stopped at not too long along, and with the help of the speeder he could get their before morning and hide there for a while.

* * *

Morning came all too soon to the young male. The sun peaked out from behind the trees and leaves as he rolled on his side and propped himself up on his elbow, letting his body slowly wake up.

Nero had driven all night all and finally had to stop before he ended up crashing into a tree he was so exhausted. After a moment to get his bearings of everything he sat up and reach for his pack to grab a half filled canteen of water. The young blond swallowed a few mouthfuls before getting up and brushing himself off of the dirt. Nero had settled himself a few yards away from the main road that was taken from town to town and from the looks of it, he was rather close to it. After he broke off a piece of some sweet bread that he had taken from Master Ja'har, well ex-master now, he piled his things back on the speeder and started it up. He headed towards the main road, which was paved by flatten out mud and dirt and turned the speeder northwards and rode off that way.

It took less than an hour to reach the town and as he did so, parked his speeder outside of a tavern where others had parked there. He didn't have any money, but some of the things that he took from Ja'har could be sold, but for now he wanted to simply walk around and clear his head as to what he had just done. Escaped from the man that has done nothing but caused him suffering for more than ten years, rode off into the woods to find an Imperial ship, kill a droid, and made contact with...with the First Order. Nero hadn't realized it last night, but as he started to settle in for the night he had realized that he had seen those uniforms before when he had traveled with Ja'har to a ship that would take them and others to another planet that his master didn't want to tell him. When they were getting ready to board the ship, his master pulled him out of line and saw those men, along with two stormtroopers walking up and down the lines. His master had told Nero that he had changed his mind and instead wanted to explore Wayland more and now he was here.

He felt a chill run up and down his spine at the thought of the getting on the First Order's radar. Granted, he knew that they were more focused on taking out the Rebellion and such, but if they caught wind of a Jedi, hell he wasn't a true Jedi, not with his lack of experience, along with the lack of an actual master to teach him the ways, but still, he could be viewed as a threat.

Nero hoped that the transmit that had been sent had been forgotten, or maybe passed on as a prank of some sorts. He also hoped that the audio and video quality was low because of the damage the ship had took. ' _Yeah, maybe they just saw a bunch of blurry lines and thought it was a ghost or something._ ' Nero tried to rationalize his thoughts, even if it was to just simply calm him down.

After a while of walking around and stopping to look at some of the merchandise that was being sold, the young, cloaked male went back to his speeder and got a few items from his bag that he could sell to someone. He got a few random parts that may be part of an older model of a speeder and went to go look for a mechanic to sell them too, and hopefully get a good price for them.

It took a while of looking around, but he eventually found a used parts store. He stepped inside, and looked to see a Besalisk talking to a Rodian, who seem to be bantering over an engine that sat in between them. Nero waited towards the front of the dusty shop for the two of them to finish whatever bargain was going on. Eventually the Rodian, snatched the small coin pouch the Besalisk was waving at him and stormed passed Nero and out of the shop.

"Something I can help you with?" He said as he walked over to him.

He was a tall humanoid, four big arms coming out of his side and he wore an apron that may have once been a clean shade of white, was now muddled with different shades of grease and oils. "Yes, I'm looking to sell these parts." He told him and gestures to the three parts he had carried in his hands.

e watched as the humanoid picked up each part and looked it over carefully. Nero didn't know what to make of the other creatures soft humming and looking back and forth. He hoped the parts together were at least good enough for a meal or two, knowing that he couldn't live off water and sweet bread forever.

After much looking, the Besalisk finally handed the parts back to Nero. "Those two are worth ten coins each, and that fuse box I'll take it from ya for twenty." He said, to which Nero quickly said, "Deal." and with that left with forty coins in his pocket.

He quickly got a meal from the tavern and got back on his speeder to try and find a place to stay for the night. Nero found an inn a few streets over who were very happy to have a customer. Once he settled in and glad to have an actual bed to rest in, Nero fell asleep quickly and peacefully.

* * *

General Hux couldn't believe what one of the control operators was showing him. The image quality was atrocious and the sound was muffled but he could still see what exactly was going on in the transmission. After rewatching it for a few minutes he left his spot at the control center and exited the room to find the one person who knew how to handle this.

It didn't take the General long until he found Kylo Ren, in the room that he stored the mask of the dead Darth Vader. He slowly let the door open with a soft hiss, and saw the black cladded man staring at the ruined mask from behind his own.

"What is it?" He asked, voice muffled and mechanic from the mask.

General Hux held out the touch screen pad for the other to take, "You need to see this." He told him as the General watched the other take the device from him and pressed down on the screen, seeing the transmission appear on screen.

The transmission was shades of dull blue and grey, signaling the other that this message might have been very old. When it actually started to play, both men watched as the blue form of a small man's back appeared to them. The faint clanking sound in the background could be heard, and in the faint corner of the screen, the leg of a droid was shown. It seemed as if Kylo was about to turn it off, bored with it, when the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber flashing could be heard and seen on video. He watched as the male sliced the droid in half with one quick motion of his weapon.

He watched as the man slowly turned around to face the transmitter, a look of shock on his blurred face. Kylo could heard the conversation two of their men were having as they were receiving the signal. Then, he watched as the small swung the lightsaber, cutting off the message and the screen turned to static. After a moment, Kylo replayed the video and paused it on the part of the young male's shocked face.

"Where did this message come from?" Kylo asked, standing up to his full height.

"From an old, forgotten Imperial ship that seemed to have crashed landed on the planet of Wayland towards the outer rim." General Hux said as he took back the device.

"Send out a small troops to scout the area and report back to me what they find." He said, as he walked pass General Hux.

"And if they find the Jedi?" Hux asked him as he walked behind him.

"Bring him to me, alive."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of A Dark Light! I'm a big Star Wars fan and i wanted to share this with everyone else! Hopefully you enjoyed it and i would love feedback about it! (Good or bad) And also i wanted to let everyone know, who are following my other stories, they have not been abandon! I'm in my senior year of high school so free time is hard to come by, but hopefully I'll have some time on my hand once spring break and summer comes around! Thank you all who have read my stories and have reviewed them and as always, happy writing!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_A Dark Light_**

A Star Wars Story

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: Goodbye and Welcome**_

Nero had spent the past week living in the room of the run down hotel, if you could call it that. There were definitely a lot of rooms, the place was no palace whatsoever, but at least he had a roof over his head and a bed to sleep on for a few days longer. The young force wielder couldn't stay here for long, it would run the risk of running into his old master and possibly being taken back by him, and sold off right then and there. Or worse, he could have alerted the First Order of his whereabouts and they were on his way to come get him. Well, the last part might just be his paranoia talking, but it still didn't sit easy with him.

He decided to rest his mind for a little longer before going to take a quick shower and going back to the market again to get something if he needed to leave soon. Once dressed in his usual attire, he headed down the few flights of stairs and out into the open market. Many people were talking back and forth as they walked around the place and the area gave off a pleasant, relaxed feeling that Nero hadn't felt in a long time.

The blond started off with finding something to eat, and afterwards wandering from vendor to vendor in looks of to find something that may be useful to him.

As the hours ticked by, and Nero got a few small things here and there, he heard that sound of a ship flying over head and flinched as he looked up and prayed that it wasn't a ship coming to get him. But he sighed with relief when he saw it wasn't a ship from the First Order but instead...the Resistance? ' _What would a Resistance X-Wing be doing in the outer rim?_ ' Nero thought to himself. He made his way over to where many of the other bigger shipped were parked and saw people and creatures loading and unloading goods and such from their carriers.

The young male slowly and carefully wandered closer to where the X-Wing was parked and wonder who could be flying such a ship, knowing that it would probably get the attention of someone bad. Though before he could get much closer, Nero bumped into a pilot that was taking his helmet off. "Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there." He said, as Nero looked up at him.

A split second later, Nero was staring at the ground and quickly making sure his hood was lowered. "It's fine, I was the one not paying attention." Nero said softly.

He heard the man give a small laugh, before noticing the smaller male's shy nature. "Say, you think you can show a good place to grab a bite to eat? Flying takes a lot of work." He said, trying to look at the other's face, but Nero seemed to be determined to not let the other see him.

"Oh, um, there's a tavern near the parts shop on the intersection." He said, but before he could excuse himself to leave, the pilot placed a hand on his shoulder and patted him.

"Well, I haven't been to Wayland before, why don't you show me around?" He asked him in such a kind voice that Nero almost said 'yes'.

"Oh where are my manners," the pilot said, "name's Poe." He said, glancing down at the male.

"Nero." The blond said.

"Nice to meet you Nero, so how about a round of drinks on me?" He asked as he started walking away.

Nero stared, or more so gawked as the other so easily talked and walked around. It had been a while since he was able to have an actual conversation with someone, but the only reason that he was running after the pilot was because he was heading in the wrong direction, and not because the other would actually seem like good company.

* * *

"And, BANG, the whole thing blew up in pieces!" Poe said, and had explained for the last hour or so some of his recent adventures just while heading here to Wayland.

The two of them talked over drinks that Poe insisted on buying him, since he was showing him around. Though it was mainly Poe talking, he didn't mind listening to the other and found himself missing someone to share stories with. Eventually he pulled his hood back a bit to let Poe see his face a bit better, but kept the hood on his head.

At first he didn't say anything, but after a moment he watched his lips turn into a smile. "If you're worried about looks, you're probably the second most handsome guy in this whole place." He said to him, and raised a pale blond eyebrow at him, "Well, second to me that is. Girls love a pilot." He joked, and Nero found himself smiling.

Once they finished their drinks, Nero lead Poe outside and started showing him around. The town wasn't that big, and even only staying for a week so far he practically knew most of it like the back of his hand. Apparently Poe had a damaged communicator from taking a rather nasty blow from some bandits that always loom around the outer rim.

He was glad that Poe was able to find the parts that he need and walked him back to his ship. Nero sat down on a nearby crate as he watched him fix the communicator and tweek a few other things to his ship. The young male knew practically nothing about ships and how they worked so he simply watched on carefully as Poe worked on.

Some time had passed and the pilot took a break, coming over to Nero and settling himself down on a crate next to him. "So, have you always lived on Wayland?" He asked as he took a rag from his pocket to wipe his hands.

"Oh, no. No I haven't." He told him. "I was born somewhere else." Nero said looking at the ground.

"I see…" Poe's voice trailed off for a moment.

"You ever been on a ship like this?" He asked pointing to his X-Wing.

Nero knew he must've been on a ship, or how else would he had gotten to Wayland in the first place, but he couldn't remember exactly how though. The hooded male shook his head and Poe had told him that he would be more than happy to give him a ride.

That was when an idea struck Nero. "You're part of the Resistance, correct?" Nero suddenly asked him, which seemed to take him by surprise.

"Yeah why?" He asked the other.

"Would you take me to the Resistance if I paid you?" He asked him.

"Why do you want to leave?" Poe asked him.

"It's a rather long story." Nero said, but wasn't going to be let off the hook that easy.

"Well, it's a good thing I have a lot of free time on my hands at the moment." He told him.

Nero pressed his lips together into a tight line, contemplating if he should actually tell him why he was in his current state. He would rather not tell him about the Imperial ship, in case the other wanted to go check it out for himself, and he also didn't want to tell him that he had been an apprentice trying to learn the ways of a Jedi, emphasis on trying. "I'm running away from someone." He told him, after what seemed like a long pause.

"Oh, and who exactly are you running from?" Poe asked, a curious look appearing on his face, and Nero watched as the pilot placed a foot up on the crate he was sitting on, giving an intense look.

"From a man that bought me ten years ago." Nero said as he glanced up at him for a moment before looking away.

"Oh…" Poe said, at first thinking that maybe the pale male was in some sort of trouble, stealing or something like that.

"I don't want to go back to him. Who knows what he's doing now, now that I've been gone for some time." Nero explained, playing with the edge of his dirty cloak, "Maybe he gave up on me, he wasn't making a profit on me or anything, but he always told me he would be rich in the long run. I just assumed he was keeping me around long enough until he could find a high enough deal."

Poe looked at Nero with a hint of pity in his eyes, letting his foot that was resting on the crate fall back to the ground. The pilot didn't want to leave such a young kid alone with a chance of him getting sucked back into a horrible life. He looked back over at his ship for a moment, seeing his R2 unit fixing some paneling on the ship and beeping happily. Poe then looked back at Nero and stood up. "If you're gonna fly with me, I'll need to check you for weapons before you get on. Once we get back to the base, the Resistance will to do some form of background check on you. Just make sure what you're telling me is true and all." Poe explained as he tucked the rag he had used to wipe his hands earlier into his back pocket.

Nero was almost jumping out of his seat, but stopped himself when the other's words sank in. Weapons. His lightsaber. ' _Crap…_ ' he thought to himself. Knowing that Poe was part of the Resistance, he wouldn't simply leave him stranded on this planet if he found out that he had a lightsaber, right? ' _I mean the Resistance would want someone like me on their side. Even if I don't really know how to completely use the force._ ' Nero thought.

"Um okay I just...I…" Nero looked up at Poe, who raised a dark eyebrow at him.

"I need to get my things before leaving, if that's alright?" Nero asked him as he stood up from his seat on the crate.

"I've been staying at the hotel that we passed on the way to the parts store. I'll only be an hour or so." He told Poe, seeing him think over what he was saying.

"Alright, we'll leave in an hour." He told him.

The young man nodded and quickly left to go back to the hotel and gather up his things before finally leaving this planet for good.

It took longer than he would have liked to have taken to get back to the hotel, but a sudden influx of people were in town that day. Apparently some sort of annual festival was being prepped for tomorrow, which seemed very important to the people of the town since they seemed so focused on what they were doing. He didn't want to ask questions about what the festival, since he didn't want to get side track with the amazement of what was going on around him. Though, it was very tempting since Nero had never gone to a festival before, and has only seen them from a distance or read them in some of the books he had found.

When he reached the hotel he had been staying at, he walked in after letting a rather large woman with two heads walking out of the hotel, grumbling something before he was actually able to get into the building. He walked over to the front desk and saw the woman who owned the place, along with her husband, fixing some of the keys that were on the hooks. When she turned around and noticed him, she jumped a bit, not expecting to see him with his hood down. "Oh, yes, how may I help you?" She asked him as she walked over to the desk.

Nero didn't mind her staring at him, and simply smiled at her. "I'm hoping to check out today. I just need to get my things and I'll be gone." He told her.

"Okay then," she said and reached below the desk to pull out a check-in sheet. "Just need you to sign out when you left and the room number you were staying in." She informed him.

Nodding his head, he did so quickly and left to go get his things. He quickly walked up the few flights of stairs before taking out the key to the room and opening the door. Nero didn't have much on him, mainly a few old shirts and pants to change in and out of, and a canteen to fill it with water whenever he got the chance. He started to stuff his things back into the small bag he had taken from Ja'har and slung the bag over his shoulder. After he made sure the room was decent, he went back downstairs to hand the key back to the woman and to pay for his stay.

The pale male had to go into his bag to get the tiny coin pouch and started to add up the amount to himself, clearing not noticing the woman staring. Though as he handed over the right amount of coins to her, she spoke up. "Your skin is very pale." She said as she started to stack the coins on the counter space between them to make sure he hand given her the correct amount.

"Oh, yeah. I was just born like this, the doctors don't know why, probably just genes I guess." He told her as his fingers started fidgeting with the edges of his cloak to buy the time.

"Really? How strange, I've never met a person like you before, and I've seen all different types of people come through here." She said, counting the last coin.

Nero smiled a little and the bowed slightly, thanking the woman for letting him stay. "I'm sure you have. Have a lovely day." He said and started to leave.

"Oh! Wait!" The woman said, making him turn around.

"What about your speeder out back?" She asked him.

He thought about the old speeder, almost honestly forgetting about it, and as he did, he didn't think that he would be able to take it with him. "Um, keep it. I can't take it where I'm going. You can do what you will with it." Nero said and said his last goodbye to her.

The young, masterless apprentice started wandering back towards where Poe would be waiting for him near the parking area. As he walked through the town he noticed more and more decorations and people getting dressed up in various costumes and the like. It put a small smile on his face, and as he grew closer to the landing platform, he tugged his hood up and over his head and made his way towards Poe.

When he saw the other, he was talking to another pilot, laughing about something, and wondered if all pilots were cheerful and smiley as Poe? Probably not. Though, he didn't think about it for long, because once he was standing beside the ship, Poe came jogging over and asked him if he was ready to go. When he said that he was, the pilot asked Nero to take a quick look in his bag. Nero let the an look through it, finding only the worn, old clothes and coin pouch in it. Poe gave the bag back over to the other male and then asked him about if he had any weapons on him. Nero looked around, seeing that most of the other pilots and beings were busy doing their own thing. He ushered Poe to walk under his X-Wing and waited underneath the big ship for the other to follow.

The smaller male noticed the strange look on his face but didn't say anything about it, seeing as how he followed him under the X-Wing. After another quick look around, Nero peeled back one side of his cloak, revealing the hilt of his lightsaber to the pilot. Nero watched as his eye widen at the sight of the weapon, immediately putting a finger to his own lips, hoping the other would stay quiet, which he did. "I'm going to have to tell Leia about this." He said, his voice soft.

"Tell her what you will, I just want off this planet as soon as possible." Nero said in a hurried voice.

"Okay...yeah, okay. I'll take you." He said, "Just need to make sure everything is in check and then we'll head off." Poe told him.

* * *

The flight to D'Qar, where the Resistance was stationed at for the time being as Poe told him, wasn't as long as the male thought it would be. It seemed like in no time the lush planet came into sight and sooner than later he was landing with Poe outside of the base of the Resistance. He waited as the ship settled next to a few others with similar color schemes and watched as Poe hit a few buttons and the top of the ship hissed open and then slowly lifted up so that they could exit.

Poe helped Nero down, seeing as how he had never been on or in a ship such as this before and didn't want the other hurting himself. Once safely back on solid ground, Nero saw that a man approached Poe, the two of them smiling brightly at each other and giving a big hug. The blond stayed back a few feet, closer to the ship as the two exchanged words. It was only a few moments after Nero saw the man that he had now turned and stared at him. "Poe?" The man said, looking back at him.

"Ah, long story, I'll tell it to you once I talk with General Leia." He said and waved at Nero to come over.

He slowly did, walking to where the other men stood. "Finn, this is Nero, Nero this is Finn. I found him on Wayland." He explained as the two of them exchanged a greeting to each other.

"I'm sure you guys will talk later, but for now, Let's head inside. Leia is going to want a report about my findings, and of you of course." He said with a smile as he ushered the other away from Finn and towards the the huge base in front of them.

Nero smiled softly at Poe as he started explaining why they were here and a few other things that he didn't really catch, since he was so busy with looking around the place. It was huge and there a lot of people wandering or hurrying up and down the long hallways. Some people stared at Nero, making him tug his hood down a bit, while others seemed to not notice him at all.

Eventually, Poe lead him into a room where there were a few people standing around a giant hologram table where it seemed to be projecting a solar system in the space above it. After the doors behind them had slid shut, a few people who were managing some of the other, smaller panels off to the sides of the room, glanced up to see who had entered. Nero ended up folding his hands together underneath the long sleeves of his robe and stayed put as Poe walked towards the table, getting the attention of a woman who seemed to be in a deep conversation with a man beside her.

The young male watched as the woman, who he assumed was the great General Leia, turned to look at Poe and listened closely to what he had to say. After a moment of hushed talking, Leia looked in Nero's direction with a soft smile on her face. She waved the other over to come closer, but Nero hesitated, now that most of the people in the room were now staring at him. He did eventually move closer, though very slowly, and made his way over to the hologram table.

The pale eyed male looked all around him as the people at the table stared back at him. "Is what Poe said true?" Leia asked Nero, looking at him with soft, brown eyes.

Nero looked back between her and Poe, confused as to what to say. "Um, yes?" He said, unsure.

"May we see it?" She asked.

"See what?"

"The lightsaber." A voice from the left said, another woman in a similar orange jumpsuit that Poe was wearing said.

Nero looked back around the table before slowly reaching towards his belt and removing the hilt from where it rested snugly against his side and held it out in front of him. The hilt of the saber was not straight, as he had heard of before. Towards the end of the lightsaber, the bottom curved off to the side a bit, but Nero found it was easier to hold it with. Leia and the others at the table stared in shock as the weapon was revealed, probably expecting it to be some cheap ripoff attempt.

"What's your name?" Leia asked, getting some of the attention off of him and on to the General instead.

"Nero." He said, and it looked as if the General was waiting to hear more, but truth be told, Nero did not know his last name.

"I was born into the slavery trade and do not know much about my parents, just that they named me Nero." He told them, and saw how some of the people looked away from him, out of pity.

"I'm very sorry to hear that." Leia said, and started to walk around the table towards Nero, who suddenly looked towards the door, feeling something moving in the force.

He looked back at General Leia, and swallowed softly. "Is there someone else here?" He asked her, "Someone with the power of the force?" He asked.

"You must sense Rey. She's outside with some of the other pilots eating." Leia explained.

"Oh…" He said softly.

Nero had never met another person who could control the force, that wasn't his old master. When Leia got close enough, she rested her hand on his shoulder and stared at him with such kindness. He didn't move as she saw her hand reached up and gently pull the hood back, revealing his face to the room who saw his pale features. "It's much easier to see your surrounds with the hood down." She said, and Nero just nodded his head.

"Are you interested in joining the Resistance?" She asked him.

"I don't really know," He told her, Nero just wanted off that planet so bad he'd probably do just about anything, "I'm sorry." He said to her.

"It's alright. You may stay here for a bit, rest up. Maybe your mind will change afterwards." She suggested.

"Yeah, maybe." He said and gave her a soft smile.

After a moment of some introductions, Nero placed his lightsaber back into his belt and pulled the edges of his cloak closer to him. When he was introduced to everyone around the table, Leia told Poe to find a cabin for him to stay in for the time being and that he should probably take him to the mess hall.

Poe told her that he was more than happy to, and told Nero to follow him. Once outside the room, hearing the same soft hissing sound of the door closing behind him, Poe started talking about all the other pilots that he would introduce him too once they got to the mess hall and that the food wasn't all that bad.

* * *

Back on Wayland, a shuttle from the First Order landed in the open field that was created by the fallen Imperial cruiser. Once settled on the ground, a small group of stormtroopers exited the hangar and started to make their way into the broken ship. Captain Phasma was leading the troops inside, telling them to spread out and see if there was any signs of the Jedi, or if he had left and traces behind him. It didn't take the troop long to reach where the signal had been transmitted and start looking through the area to see what they could find.

As the stormtroopers searched the place, Phasma activated the communication device that was connected to the Finalizer. "We've found nothing so far." She spoke. "We'll continue our search however until something comes up."

"Good, I want you to find the Jedi and bring him to be as quickly as possible. Unharmed."

Phasma was a bit shocked to hear Kylo Ren's voice on the other end, she had expected to hear General Hux's voice or one of the control commanders instead. "Yes sir." She said and disconnected the device as she watched everyone work.

After finding nothing inside, besides the sliced up battle droid, Phasma made her way outside where she noticed some of the stormtroopers looking at the ground and another one pulling up a holo-map on a hand-held device. "What's going on over here?" She questioned them as she got closer.

The trooper that was kneeling on the ground stood up as they saw the Captain coming over. "We found a piece that belongs to an old speeder model, and whoever was on it seemed to be heading Northwards." One of the them said.

The other one with the map pulled out handed the device to Phasma as he spoke, "The closest town to here is a place by the name Ryloo. It could be where the Jedi was heading." He said.

"Tell everyone to get back on the ship. We are to waste no time." Phasma said as she ended back towards the ship and waited for everyone to get on before feeling the ship take off at a fast speed towards the small town.

When the ship came into sight of the people of the town, many of them hid, knowing the First Order ship meant nothing but trouble. The ship landed where many of the larger ships were parked, and the second the hangar doors came down, the small group of stormtroopers came filing out, Phasma bringing up the middle. "Everyone is to search every corner of this town. Report back to me when you've found something." She ordered and let the troops go off and start searching.

Phasma walked down the main street of the town, watching as she saw the troops raiding vendors, shops and the like. She saw a duo of her men holding a person down, yelling questions at the man, who repeatedly said he knew nothing about a Jedi coming through the town. Wherever one looked, there was a stormtrooper doing something, destroying or questioning bystanders who probably honestly didn't know anything, but that was not her concern at the moment. The only thing that mattered was the mission at hand.

Minutes soon turned into a few hours, but eventually Phasma was called over by one of the troopers who had found someone near an old, crumbling inn that told one of the stormtroopers that she may know who they were after. When she got over there, it was a human couple, holding on to each other as if the wind would carry one of them away. "Talk." One of the stormtroopers said as Phasma stopped in front of them.

"There was a man. He was travelling alone, he stayed here for a week or so." The man spoke up.

"He was a bit odd looking, he always wore a hood and a very old brown cloak. He had blonde hair though, b-but I only saw his face once, I swear! The man was very pale looking, like...like if he was sick. He kept his head down most of the time he was around other people." The woman spoke up.

"He also came in on an old, banged up speeder, said that where he was going he couldn't take it with him." She added, fear filling her eyes.

Captain Phasma told one of the stormtroopers to go check out the speeder and to try and see if they could find out who it belonged to, or they could get a trace on the Jedi. After one of the troopers left, she turned her attention back on the shivering couple.

"Where is your check-in sheet?" Phasma asked and saw the woman get up to go run back inside the building to go get it.

Phasma took the booklet from the woman and examined it herself, cross checking the date and time of the signal to the dates and time that people have checked in. As she did this, only one person matched the examination. She then ripped the page from the booklet and tossed it back at the woman, who fumbled with it for a moment before holding it close to her chest. The captain examined the name on the paper before nodding her head and walking away.

"Wait!" The woman said, causing Phasma to stop and turned to look over her shoulder at the woman.

"He left not too long ago. He left with some pilot who was flying a Resistance X-Wing." She told them.

After she let the new information sink in, she turned back around and as she did so, she heard the screams and horrified shrills from the couple as the stormtroopers forced them back into their building and the sound of a blaster going off twice rang in the air. She turned on her communications device, waiting a moment for the signals to connect before speaking. "We've found a lead. It seems like the Jedi was taken by a member of the Resistance. A woman said that they left not too long ago." She said.

"Good. I'll send another squadron to go after them, come back to the ship to be debriefed." Kylo Ren spoke through the device.

"We also got a name, it seems the Jedi only used his first name when checking into a local inn. Says that his name is Nero." She said, as she then ordered her troops to fall back to the ship.

"Nero…" She heard Kylo say slowly, but said nothing more before cutting of the device.

She ordered her men to hurry it up before finally getting on the ship and taking off to go back to the Finalizer.

* * *

Back on D'Qar, Nero was having a hard time trying to find the room that Poe had told him he could stay in for his time staying here. ' _Was it two lefts, a right at the bathrooms and four doors down, or two lefts, another left at the bathroom and two doors down?_ ' Nero thought to himself as he was now stuck, standing outside the bathroom doors looking up and down the very long hallways.

He was stumped for a while and thought to himself that he might as well just guess and hope for the best. Though, he had wished Poe had came with him to show him around, rather than having to look on his own. He guessed that helping another pilot fix his engine was more important. It didn't bother him, being put last on the priority list, he's been at the bottom of that list all his life. So, he simply wandered off in hopes that he could find the room labeled N7-90 sooner, rather than later so he could rest.

Poe had treated him to a big meal in the mess hall after he introduced some of the other pilots to him and it was the most food he ever had in one sitting, so now all he wanted to do was rest for the day. And here he was now, looking around like a lost child as he tried to find the right sleeping chamber. He hoped that he wouldn't accidently open someone else's, that would be awfully humiliating.

It must have been the gods of luck that Nero finally found the number N7-90 on the doorway and finally was able to rest his tired feet. The Resistance's base was huge and didn't really think that so many people were apart of it all. Though, he himself didn't know if he could stay in a place like this. It wasn't bad, there was good food, a place to sleep and a lot of people to talk too. But he didn't know if he could so easily fall in line like all the other fighters did. He had been under someone's control all his life, and now with this chance at freedom, the idea of having to go back under someone's rule didn't appeal to him.

When he finally opened the room door's he found it to be a little cabin, big enough for one person to walk around a little bit, with a single full sized bed and a desk and chair off to the other side. The room that he was in had a window and could see the runway where most of the X-Wings were located. Nero closed the door and as he did so, he sighed softly and walked over to the bed, falling back on it and letting his head hit the soft pillow.

The pale blond was just closing his eyes when he felt it. That feeling of being watched. Nero looked at the room, there was no way someone was watching him from any direction and yet he still felt the chilling feeling that someone was watching him intensely. Then, just as he was about to get up and possibly look around to see if there were any camera in the room, or maybe someone watching him outside the doors, he felt a disturbance in the force.

It was as if someone's hatred was slowly turning into excitement, but not the good kind. His heart rate started beating faster and faster and felt as if someone's hands were slowly closing around his throat, scaring him. He felt the force shiver and tremble for a minute or so, feeling as if someone was trying to get at him, and the second he felt like that he thought to himself, ' _The First Order…_ ' and just like that, the feeling vanished as if nothing had happen.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello everyone! Hope you liked this chapter of A Dark Light! I would feedback to know whether or not I should continue the series! I do like how it is going so far, but personally I think I might make a few changes. But anyways, I'm glad people are reading it and hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it! And as always, happy writing!**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Getting ever Closer

Nero gasped loudly after the feeling around his throat disappeared, and was finally able to breath properly again. He sat up and moved his hand to brush the hair that had fallen into his face. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what say. What was one to say after feeling something like this? A timid hand reached up to his throat, it hurt a bit, even though no one actually had touched it, it still hurt.

Once he took a moment to collect himself, he got up and knew that he had to tell someone. Though who that someone was, he did not know. Then he remember the other person, Rey, and that she could use the force, but what was he to say to her? Was he just suppose to walk right up over to her and ask her if she felt something in the force? Talk about it and...Nero sat back down on the bed. If he had had a proper master then maybe he would understand what he needed to do in this situation. Though before he could think any further on the subject of his past, he shook his head and stood up, a little too quickly and felt the room spin a bit.

He reached out for a wall, pressing his palm against the cool surface to steady himself. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, "Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering...anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering…" Nero whispered the words to himself.

When he was still with his mother she had whispered those words to him. She had told Nero that his grandfather's master had use those words to help calm him. Though, whenever he brought up the subject of his grandfather, his mother grew quiet and told him not to push the subject. To this day he had yet to know anything about his grandfather, or even his own father, since his mother never really talked about him, but when she did, she had told him one night, while he was getting ready for bed. He still remembered how soft her voice was, as if someone might be listening to her, and how pretty she looked in the dim light in the room. Long blonde hair tumbling messily over her shoulders as she rubbed his head softly. She had told him that his father was a beautiful man, but one with a troubled lineage. That his father's father was too ambitious and hateful, and that costed him heavily. That was all she ever told him, and not too long afterwards, his mother was killed in a horrible accident.

Nero had told his mother before she passed that he would try never to hate someone so much, that he turned into his grandfather, whoever he was. He opened his eyes again after relaxing for a moment. He still didn't know what he should do, but at least he wasn't as panicked as before. With a steady mind he breathed in deeply before deciding that he would simply just wait a bit before telling anyone about what had just happened. The young male would simply report it to General Leia later when she wasn't as busy with whatever work she was doing.

Since he decided to push the occurrence out of mind for now, Nero started for the small shower in the sleeping cabin to help get his mind off of things. When he reached the shower he closes the door behind him and went over to turn on the warm water. He slowly rid himself of his clothes and folded them neatly on the edge of the sink before stepping in. The male could feel all the dirt and grime wash away from his body. Even though he had access to a shower back in the small town in Wayland, it was cold and didn't look as clean as the water coming out of the showerhead right now, so he had kept them quick.

But now, he could relax, letting out a rather happy sigh and allowing his shoulder to slump down a bit as the warm water rained down on him. His pale whitish-blond hair looked like a dull grey as it stuck to his head, his fingers coming up to brush some of it out of his eyes. After simply standing under the water for some time, Nero started to wash his body and hair until he was as clean as he probably has ever been.

The young force wielder stayed under the warm water longer than he cared to admit, wanting to stall as long as possible. He did have to eventually get out, and when he did he quickly dried himself off and dresses himself. Nero had taken a liking to some of the clothing that was provided for him at the base, but still kept hold of his cloak. When he stepped out of the bathroom and into the small cabin room, he felt for his lightsaber at his waist, his fingers gently brushing it over and over for a few moments before leaving the room.

The hallways were rather dim, and there were vines running all around the walls and ceiling. He could feel their energy, though it was very faint and moved out of the way as he started to see people running around, and heading outside. Nero followed suit and as he got close, he could feel the other's force signature, the one called Rey, that he had yet to meet. As he passed the control room, he felt a sudden distress feeling in the air and stopped right outside the doors. The male looked around to make sure no one was in the hallway that could possibly see him or sneak up on him as he was spying.

Pressing his ear up close to the door, he closed his eyes and listened in closely to what was going on in the room. "...what he said was true, we are still endanger and need to be ready." A voice said.

"I wasn't expecting to see or hear of the First Order at least for a few months, since the Starkiller base was destroyed." Another voice said...Leia's voice.

"We need the Jedi on our side. If everything that you've said about the force is real, he'll be a valuable asset." A different voice spoke up.

"That is true, but I will not force him to take our side." Leia said.

"So you'd let him go? What if the First Order gets their hands on him? We need to keep him here." The same voice from before spoke up, and Nero determined that it was coming from a male.

"Let him go, or keep him here, he is a threat to us." A third voice entered the conversation that caused everyone else to be quiet for a moment.

"Captain Rosa, I understand that you might feel-"

"That I might feel what?" She snapped. "A Jedi, your son, killed my family in front of me. Do you really think he isn't the same as him?" Rosa said, and Nero could hear the anger in her voice.

"That is enough." Leia said, "Not every Jedi is bad." She told the room.

"Well, we can't know that for sure. Know one on this base and do those supposive mind tricks to get him to talk. How do we know he isn't lying, or trying to manipulate us? Maybe he already has!"

Nero could hear the muffled side conversations from behind the door and slowly pulled back. Did other's think that he was bad? That he would be so easily moved to the First Order because of who he is? Didn't they all know what had happen to the Jedi? They had been killed by them. That was the last place Nero wanted to be.

Now he had so many questions, much more than before he had landed at the base. Though, he pushed that thought to the side as he heard someone walking through the doors on the other side of the doors and leaving. Now, he could sense Leia and the girl, Rey outside, and the air around them seemed as if they were saying goodbye for some reason.

'Maybe I should leave?' Nero thought.

A few days later, Nero found himself sitting around with Leia and the others in control of the Resistance, in the control room. They were all sitting at the table, all looking rather peacefully, but Nero couldn't sit still. Especially since he noticed that Captain Rosa was also sitting along with them at the table. "Nero, how have you been?" Leia asked.

"I've been doing very well, thanks to everyone. I've never been fed so well, or been so clean." He said, and as he did so heard a soft scoffing sound come from across the table.

He didn't have to turn and look to see who it came from. Nero just kept his attention on Leia and the other commanders around the table. "I'm glad to hear that." She said.

"I called you here today in hopes that you've come up with an answer as to whether or not you'll be joining us." The general said.

Nero fell silent for a few moments and looked down at his lap before looking back up at the table. "I'm terribly sorry," He began, "I still find myself wondering what I should do, or where I should go. I have been told that using my powers will bring nothing but trouble and death, I know that is not true, and yet I still find myself afraid to test my limit."

"I'm sure it must feel lonely, seeing as how no one can truly relate to you." One of the commanders spoke out, "But if you stay here, I'm sure you will find a way to test out your powers in combat." She spoke, giving a soft smile, to which Nero returned.

"You don't need to test out your powers." Captain Rosa finally broke her silence. "With that lightsaber at your belt no one will want to fight you." She said, "Unless it's all a show. In the time that you've been here I haven't seen you use it once."

"Because there has been no need for me to use it." Nero said, his eyes narrowing at her.

"Really?" She mused, "But I'm sure you've used it before, right? Just how many people have you chopped down with it?" She said him.

"Captain Rosa, one more outburst like that and I will suspend you." Leia said.

"No, it's okay," Nero spoke up, "let her talk."

He could see Rosa growing more angry with each passing moment, and with that slowly stood up from his seat, gently pulling back his robe and reached for his lightsaber. "I'll show to you that the lightsaber I carry is in fact real." He said, pulling the hilt from where it was strapped to his belt and pointed it forward.

Nero pressed the button and the whirring sound of the lightsaber filled the room. All eyes were on him. He moved it around a bit, making sure that everyone saw it, before clicking the button again, turning it off. "Now that that is done with, I would like some time to myself." He stated as he headed towards the door.

When he did he heard someone push their seat back quickly, before hearing someone yell out 'No!'. Nero sensed the blaster being pulled and spun around quickly, lightsaber out and glowing an ominous red in the room as he blocked the shot from the blaster. His pale eyes looked as if they were glowing red from the reflection of the saber's light, anger and hatred seemed to radiate off of him as he slowly lowered it down, but did not put it away.

* * *

"The squadron have returned."

General Hux nodded his head. "Tell them to send their reports to me," he said in a stern, but tired voice, "I'm sure Kylo will want to hear about this right away."

"They also have a person on board the ship."

"Who? Certainly not the Jedi?"

"No, but he claims that he can help us find him."

"Fine. Bring him aboard and take him to a holding cell." General Hux commanded and left the room.

After a few moment of walking down the hallway, a small ping was heard from his pocket and fished out the tiny device and loaded up the screen. General Hux read over the report quickly as he went in search of Kylo Ren.

As always, it didn't take long to find the dark knight, finding him close to where he takes people to torture them. When he did, the two of them exchanged brief words before Hux handed over the report to the taller man. Kylo looked at the report carefully. The general always found it awkward standing around and being unable to tell what the other was thinking behind his mask. He never liked not knowing what was going on.

The report held everything that the Captain Phasma and her men found while searching the planet of Wayland. Apparently the young Jedi was traveling with a companion before hand, seeing the register of the speeder was made out in someone else's name, and that the man had bought two of them. With a little more reading he stared at the picture of the torn out sheet of paper. Kylo zoomed in on the line where the name 'Nero' was written in faint letters.

Once he read everything over, he handed the device back over to General Hux. "I was also informed that our men found someone that claims they can help find him." He said.

Kylo nodded, "I felt him come aboard." He said, and then told the general to bring him to him.

When the man had finally been strapped down to the device, Kylo wanted nothing more than to skewer the bastard, but if he had information he needed, then he could tolerate him for a while longer. While the stormtroopers were strapping him down, Kylo knew that the old man was force sensitive and he didn't possess a strong pull in the force. Once the final strap was locked into place, Kylo ordered his men to leave and to close the door behind him.

The door closed softly, leaving the two men alone. Slowly, Kylo stalked around the man, who was trying to look at him, the fear in his eyes all too clear. "You know where the boy is?" Kylo asked, stopping his pacing and standing off to the side.

"Not know, since the bastard took off in the middle of the night," he said, "but I know some things that can help you find him."

"A Resistance pilot was spotted taking the boy with him, leaving the planet." Kylo said.

"Figures, little shit, I should've put a leash on him." The man grunted under his breath.

"My people tell me that you call yourself Ja'har, and that you were the boy's master." Kylo started, walking towards the other.

"I was, and once I get my hands on him, I'll the kid's neck." He said, and as his words left his mouth, he started choking.

"The boy will me mine," Kylo said, getting up even closer to Ja'har, choking him until his face started to bloom a dull blue, and then let the man breath, "and you will tell me all about him."

"I will, for a price." The man said through his coughing fit, picking his head up to look at Kylo Ren.

"The boy is worth more than he knows. I was going to take him to some traders who would pay some big money for him." Ja'har said, twisting his body to try and get comfortable in his restraints.

"Why?"

"Money talks." He said.

Kylo had enough of the old man's babbling. Reaching out for the force, the old man's mind quickly opened up to him. He could faintly hear the man struggling against his will as he dived into his mind to find out about everything he knew about the boy.

* * *

It was your typical slave station.

It was old, run down and looked to be crumbling at the edges of everything. Wherever this was stationed it was cold, snow littering the ground and surrounding houses. The people working outside where bundled up in rags and torn fur coats, shoveling snow and dragging huge bags of equipment and wood in and out of the building.

Inside, the first floor of the building was the warmest, since that was where the biggest fireplace was. It was a good few feet tall and the flames roared and crackled inside the room. The fire gave off a red and yellow glow, casting everything in its sight. In that room, there were many young children playing around, mainly with themselves, since their didn't seem to be a lot of toys. Sitting in a chair was a woman with long blonde hair, pulled back into a braid and holding a small child in her arms.

The child was barely a year old, pale whitish hair swept thinly arcoss it's head, his eyes closed as he slept peacefully in his mother's arm. The woman was singing softly to the child, rocking him back and forth in his arms.

This went on for sometime before the woman stopped, hearing the door to the room open and a man enter the room, covered in snow. Some the children stopped playing to look at the man as he went over to the older woman. He knelt down in front of her and ran his finger against the child's round cheeks. "I found some more in the tavern." He spoke softly.

"How many?" She asked.

"How many?" She asked again, not getting a response.

The man sighed, running his fingers through his hair and looking away for a moment. "Five."

"What are we going to do? You can't keep doing this, someone is going to catch on." She said, and urgency in her voice.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it." He said.

"You're not as young as you use to be." She told him.

"I know, but we're all we have left. I can't run the risk of anyone finding out about him." He said, stroking the thin hair of the child.

"Okay, but please be careful." She whispered.

The man kissed her before standing and leaving the room.

The vision blurred and it was spring, the snow had melted and green grass was everywhere. The slave station was still just as damaged, if not more so now. There were men coming down the streets whispering to each other as they headed towards the slave station. The vision was a bit hazy, the old man must have been hiding while he followed the group of men.

As they got closer to the building, he caught sight of the man from before, standing in the middle of the street with a cloak wrapped around his body. The men that were walking chased after him, and the man lead them away from the building and out into the fields where some of the slaves worked.

He saw from a distance as the men got closer, the older male turned around, holding something in his hand, and wondered what it was before he same the familiar red gleam of a lightsaber. He saw the man cut them all down with ease, no one seeing the man slaughtering them. Seeing the man walking away, the vision moved forward and saw that Ja'har had moved to see one of the men was still alive.

"What happened? Why did you go after him?" He could hear him ask.

"The son...his son…" He cough up, blood pouring from his lips and eyes.

"What about the son?" He asked in a hurried voice.

"Wanted...he's wanted...He's-"

* * *

Kylo stepped back and away from the man as he fainted. He had figured he would find out many things about the young boy, but this...this was absolutely perfect. He looked back at the man as he was slumped against the straps that were keeping him upright. A slow grin formed behind the mask as he exited the room, informing the two stormtroopers at the door to keep watch over Ja'har, and that he wasn't done with him yet.

He strolled down the halls, his gate intimidating the workers around him as he made his way over to the control room. Opening the doors, he saw General Hux, standing and looking over the table at some design plans. Kylo told everyone in the room to leave at once, which they did, many of the officers stumbling around to quickly gather their things and leave.

"I assume you made some progress with the old man?" General Hux said.

"Yes, but I still have some use left in him." Kylo said. "It seems that the young boy has closer ties to our side than I had thought."

General Hux gave Kylo a strange look, but didn't say anything as he walked around the table and pulled up a map of D'Qar. "The boy has a price on his head." Kylo explained.

"People who were Imperial sympathizers found out about the child's lineage and wanted them in their hands." Kylo said, turning to General Hux.

"Lineage?"

"His grandfather was a sith lord. Apparently he had a son that he kept hidden," Kylo said, typing something into the database, "the son died, but he himself had a son." As he spoke and image came up on screen.

An image that General Hux never thought he would see.

* * *

Nero took a deep breath, telling himself to be calm as he pressed the button on his lightsaber and put it away. One of the other pilots in the room put Captain Rosa's hands behind her back and started taking her away. Leia and a few others that were in charge started to come over and apologize for their member's rotten behavior, but told them not to, and that he was fine. He just needed some air.

He walked out of the control room and down the hall until he was outside, feeling the warm sunlight on his face. The male hiked his hood up and folded his sleeves on top of one another and started walk around the landing strip. He watched as many of the pilots and other members of the Resistance worked on the different ships and other things around the base that needed tending too. Some where just walking around and talking to one another.

Nero found himself walking up one of the tiny slopes towards the back of the base that lead into the woods. There was a stretch of grassy lands before entering the forest and Nero settled himself down on the soft grass. He crossed his legs and placed his hands on his land and started taking in deep breaths. The pale male reached out for the force, feeling it guide him along and around the living this near him. He sensed a river not to far from where he was sitting now, and sensed a woodland creatures drinking from it.

He needed to be peaceful, he needed to control his emotions so that they didn't get the better of him. Nero couldn't let that happen, he promised his mother that he try and see the good in people. He couldn't blame Rosa for how she felt, her family was killed before him. Someone like him had killed her family, he couldn't be mad, or angry.

 _'Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering...anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering…_ '

Nero kept saying it like a mantra in his head. He couldn't be angry, if he was angry he'd end up like his grandfather, he would break the promise he made to his mother, and he would...he wouldn't know what to do. He wanted someone to teach him not to stuff his emotions inside of him, bury them deep down and lock them away. Nero knew it was the wrong way to handle it, but he had no other outlet, no other choice.

He took another deep breath, focusing on the calming flow of the water not too far away from here. Nero felt and reached out towards the creatures that swam in the river, listening to their carefree thoughts. He even smiled a little bit and then opened his eyes.

He leaned back until his back rested against the soft grassy ground and looked up at the sky above him. The boy could see some of the ships off in the distance doing some sort of test run and chasing after each other. This place, the Resistance, it all seemed so good. They were fighting against the First Order, trying to restore balance in the universe and helping people out. He wondered why weren't more people trying join them or help them out? Was the power of the dark side really that strong?

Being on a planet in the outer rim and being hidden from the world for so long, Nero world was barely a fraction of what was going on everywhere else. He started to wondered what made the dark side so tempting. He could be just as powerful on the light side of the force than the dark side, right?

Nero sighed yet again, this was why he needed a master, to help answer all these questions. He sat up, still a bit put off from what happened in the control room, but was much more calmer now. As he looked off into the forest, he sensed someone coming up the small slope and turned around to see Poe, dressed in normal civilian clothing coming over. "Hey," He said as he got close enough to him and settled himself next to him, "heard what happened with Rosa and everyone." He commented.

"Oh..word gets around fast here." He said drily.

"Yeah, there isn't much to do around here, so we make your own fun." He told him as he glance over his shoulder.

"Say, how about we go out tonight?" He asked him, to which Nero looked at him with bewildered eyes.

"I mean not like that!" He said to him, "Some of the other pilots are going to fly over to the nearest town in celebration for blowing up Starkiller base." He explained. "Since you're new here and all, it'll be a great chance to see everyone in an easy, fun environment instead of running around and following orders."

"That's very thoughtful of you, but I think I should just stay here. I mean, I didn't help in taking it down or anything." He said.

"Doesn't mean that you still can't come, everyone on the base is invited, though not all of them are going. Some still have work to do and all that, it's mainly all the pilots." Poe told him.

"I don't know, I don't really know what to do when it comes to celebration and all." Nero said, looking away and back over to the woods.

"Well, you won't learn until you try right?" Poe said as he started to get up, reaching out his hand towards him.

Nero looked at his hand for a moment before smiling softly and taking it, hauling himself up. "I guess you're right. I see no harm in going for a bit." Nero told him as he followed along with him back toward the base.

 _'Maybe going will help take my mind off of everything. Letting loose would be fun._ ' Nero thought to himself as he walked over to the base's front doors, where Poe told him time to meet him by his ship later tonight.

* * *

When Nero and Poe came back that night, it was pretty crazy. Even with Poe being the best pilot in the Resistance, with a few too many drinks, his flying was definitely not...perfect. Thankfully they landed safely back at the base with no injuries to them or Poe's ship. Even Nero had caved in under pressure from the other pilots had a few drinks. Though it didn't taste to good, seeing that other people were suddenly so happy that he was drinking made him think that he should order another cup.

And another one.

Now he was slowly trudging his way towards his room to go to bed for the evening. It was already so late, or was it early in the morning, Nero couldn't tell. The only thing he could tell at the moment was just how comfortable his bed looked as he opened the doors. He almost didn't take off his shoes as he sat down on the bed, but afterwards simply fell back on his pillow and snuggled into the mattress, pulling the covers over him.

It didn't take long until he was in a deep, lulling sleep. His mind going back to the tavern where everyone was partying. He had never seen so many happy people in one area before, and just thinking about it put a smile on his face, but he knew good things never lasts. Captain Rosa of course was at the party, on a 'leave', as she told everyone. Of course, most of the pilots knew why she was and will not be on duty for a while, but no one really commented on it. Though, that didn't stop her from making small, snippy comments at Nero whenever he walked by.

He ignored her for most of the night, but some of the things she said really boiled his blood, and he didn't really know why sometimes. Nero tried not to think about it, but his mind kept circling back to it. All those little petty remarks about how he looked, or that he didn't care about anyone. That he put himself above everyone else, and that he didn't have a family. Rosa had told him, very loudly, that the Resistance was her family, and that she wouldn't let someone like him ruin it for her.

Nero had come to the conclusion that he didn't like her. She was just too much and he so badly wanted to say so many things to her. Nero didn't have a family either, he had to grow up in a slave station working all hours of the day, and sometimes well into the night, never knowing when his next meal was going to be. How he was beaten when he didn't work fast enough, or if he didn't fix something the right way he was whipped. Sometimes the punishments were worse. He had been blamed for stealing another slave's food portions and was forced to sleep outside with any meals for that day.

Nero had suffered so much so young, and then he was sold off to Ja'har. The events leading up to being sold were awful, cruel and frightening.

 _'She'd never make it in the slave trade…_ '

Nobody cared about your family or your past life. If you were sold into the trade or born into, everyone one was treated like dogs equally.

 _'She probably doesn't know what it's like to be hungry, starving...cold and abandon…'_

The Resistance is all one big family, right? She should be grateful that they let her in, let her be a part of something good, not everyone has that luxury.

 _'She probably takes everything for granted, I could be on her side and help her…'_

They should want him right? If he can just train himself he can become stronger and be useful. Then they'll see that they'll be begging for him to join the Resistance, and he would show just how strong he really is.

 _'I can put her in her place, show her the true meaning of pain and suffering. No one knows what I've gone through. What I had to go through to stay alive. No one damn it, they're all so ignorant of their positions and don't know the first thing of being left for dead and having to follow someone that does nothing but beat you and tells you how much of a pain and a useless bastard you are! They can't know any of that, can they? They're all just scared of me...scared that because of what I am, they automatically think I'll be seduced by the dark side...they're idiots, all of them...I'm not weak...I'm not, I can be strong…'_

Nero rolled around in his sleep as he tossed the covers off of him, feeling much to warm with them on.

' _They don't know what they have, do they...but I'm sure if I left they'll probably send someone to go out and look for me, to bring me back and try to convince me to stay put like sort of pet…'_

 _'You aren't a pet…'_

Nero heard a voice chime inside his subconscious, his closed eyelids flickering for a moment.

 _'I'm not a pet…'_

 _'You have so much potential to do something marvelous with your life..'_

 _'I do…'_

 _'Yes, you need someone to guide you, lead you in the right direction...no one has done that for you, have they?'_

 _'No…'_

 _'Come to me, let me in, let me guide you, train you to become the person you were meant to be..'_

Nero sat up straight in his bed, his shirt and forehead soaked in a cold night's sweat. He looked around his room and felt out for the force quickly to find out who was talking with him. When he did, he felt the faint traces of the person, but they were far away from the base. Nero couldn't tell how far away the person was, and as he started to stand, he felt them vanish.

He felt the force wanting him to move forward, to go after what he was feeling and what he had just felt. As quickly as he could, he put his shoes back on and made his bed, and opened up the cabin door to leave.

* * *

 _ **A/N: And here's the third chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it! Feedback/comments are always a pleasant way to keep motivations up for all writers! Plus I would love to know what you all think of the story so far! Happy writing!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_A Dark Light_**

A Star Wars Story

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Sadistics and Innocents**

Nero was ahead of all the other kids as they raced across the wheat fields next to the slave station. He had to slow down or even stop a few times so that the other children could catch up with him, even though some of them were much older than the young boy. Once most of the small group of kids were close enough, Nero's friend William raced up to him. William was about a head taller than Nero and had brown, thick locks of hair that curled around his face and stuck out in all different directions. The pale, young child giggled as his friend picked him up from behind and spun him around, causing many of the other children to laugh.

It was a beautiful spring day, and many of the children were just waiting to play games in the field, and since the children had been on their best behavior for a good month or so, the station owner's wife gave each of them a coin or two to go get candy out near the market place. Nero had been so excited that he had jumped up and down and started racing off ahead of everyone, wanting to be the first one to reach the market. "For a little kid like you, you have some speed in those thin legs of yours." William said, placing Nero back down on the ground.

"Mama told me that I could be the fastest man alive!" Nero teased, making the taller child laugh.

"Now, don't get too ahead of yourself, or you might just trip over your own feet." William retorted.

"Yeah, like when you tried to take one of Xerxes' toy, and he came back in the room, and then you tripped on the rug." One of the other kids said.

Nero pouted his lips and crossed his arms over his chest in defiant manner. "I wasn't trying to take it! He wasn't playing with it no more, and Addi asked me to go get it!" Nero said to the group of kids.

"Come on, let's keep going. We don't want to wait around all day in the wheat field and let all the god candy be bought!" William said and got everyone's attention.

Many of the kids started cheering and jumping before they started running in the direction towards the market once again. Though Nero hung out towards the back where Williams was. The two walked together, side by side as the tall wheat grass brushed up against their legs. "How's your back doing?" Williams asked after a moment.

The taller child had been waiting for them to have a moment alone to ask the other, not wanting the other children to eavesdrop on them. Ever since Nero's mother passed away a few months ago, and his father a few months before that, the white eyed boy had been less and less happy, which William understood, having lost both of his parents as well. Not only had Nero started to become more depressed, but without the protection of either of his parents, he was an easy target for people like Xerxes.

Xerxes was much older than the small group of kids. He normally worked out in the fields or in the auto parts shop down the road with most of the older teens. Since Nero, William and the other kids were so small, they were usually stuck with simple, but very boring tasks. Such as cleaning the station from top to bottom, taking out the trash, cleaning the dishes, laundry and going out to buy food for everyone. It didn't seem like it, but by the end of the day, most of the children were too tuckered out to play any games afterwards. Though, on some days when the work was light, the younger children would go play near the wheat fields. This caused Xerxes to be not so happy with them.

He always complained how they didn't work the younger kids hard enough, or how they should be locked up inside and let everyone else work in piece. He really was a bitter person. But William and most of the other children knew that the owner's wife had a somewhat soft spot for the children, though they were still punished harshly if they did something wrong or didn't finish a chore quickly enough. Xerxes, since Nero's parent's passed away, had seemed to make it his number one priority to make his life a living hell, more so than it already was living at a slave station. William didn't know why Xerxes hated the small boy so much, since Nero didn't really talk much to the other slaves, or go near them.

Nero sighed to himself softly, undoing the first button of his dirty top, and let William take a peek down his back to examine the lash mark. The long mark traveled down from the middle of his shoulder blades all the way down to his hips. Once Williams had told him that it hadn't reopened and that all the scabs were still there, he buttoned his shirt back up and together, walked a little faster to catch up with everyone. As they caught up with the group, and heard many of the other children singing along to a song, Nero thought back to how he had gotten the nasty lash, that would probably stay with him forever. At least, that was what the medical personnel had said when William had to carry him there.

Nero had just walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, since he had been playing around all day with many of the other children in the backyard before being told to get inside since it was getting darker out. When he found the pitcher of water and started pouring it into an empty glass cup, he heard the back kitchen doors swing open and some of the older teens come walking in, covered in dirt from the fields. The pale teen had picked up the pitcher and put it back in the fridge before grabbing his cup and holding it close to him. The older teens didn't seem to notice him at first and took a tiny sip of water before starting to make his way back towards the room where the other kids were playing around. He passed the fireplace when he heard one of the utensils fall behind him, making a loud clattering sound on the stone floor. This caused some of the teens to look over, but most of them simply turned back around. Others still looked over as they saw Xerxes get up and stalk over to the young boy.

The small child backed up close to the fireplace, but stopped as he felt the flames heat up his back and he felt his body start to sweat from it. Xerxes didn't say anything and then just grabbed Nero by the arm and grabbed for something behind him that he couldn't see. The next moment he felt the searing pain of something cutting his hot flesh open and screamed out in pain. The older teens did nothing, mainly because they were shocked, but as Xerxes let him go, letting Nero crumble to the floor, William and another boy came running into the room to see their friends on the floor, crying out in pain. William quickly got Nero away from Xerxes, who let the hot iron hook fall to the ground as the other child went to go tell the owner. He remembered how much it hurt, sewing the skin back up and having to lay on his back for almost a week and was not allowed to more from the bed unless he needed to use the bathroom. It was awful.

Though now, it didn't hurt that badly, it was just sore in some places and he was moving around just as much as he was before. Nero still had no idea why Xerxes hated him so much, he didn't remember doing something to him that would cause him to harbor so much hatred for him, but he would never ask him, too afraid of what the other would do to him. He tried not to think of it and instead just tried to have a good time with his friends for the day.

By the time it was around noon, the kids had reached the market place and it was busy as always. Species and creatures of all kind were walking around, buying and selling things. The children stuck close to one another as they wandered around to look for a shop that sold sweets.

It wasn't long and when they did find the store they all ran inside. Thankfully the shop's owner seemed more pleased than annoyed having a bunch of little kids running around their shop wanting to buy some candy. Nero wandered around the fruits that were dipped in chocolate and other sugary goodness with Addi, one of the children. They both looked over at the giant pieces of fruit that were dipped in either chocolate or caramel and licked their lips at the same time. Which caused both of them to giggle to themselves softly. Addi picked up a giant berry dipped in caramel, and Nero reached for the last giant strawberry dipped in chocolate. The berry was about the size of Nero's own hand and it was the perfect shade of red.

He walked up together with Addi to pay for the treats and waite near the front of the shop for everyone else to be done. Once everyone was happily munching, chewing or sipping at whatever they bought they thanked the owner and left. The children had been in there for quite some times, but they didn't mind, so long as they were home before dinner, and dinner wasn't served until the sun went had a few hours left of sunlight and started to head back towards the wheat fields.

Some of the kids who had finished their sweets started playing a game of tag while the others still eating sat in a small circle and talked. Nero was having a wonderful time, sitting in the tall wheat grass and finally making it to the strawberry underneath the chocolate. Once he finally bit into the berry, his mouth was filled with the ripe, sweet juice of it, and effectively got some on the collar of his shirt. William poked fun of him, but he just laughed it off.

Nero was almost done with his treat when one of the other children said that it was getting pretty late, and that they should head back soon if they wanted to get back before dinner. All of them agreed and started to flag over some of the kids who had wandered off to go play a different game. Once they were all back together, with help from William running all over place to catch some of the more wild and unruly kids, they started heading back.

As they did so, once again Nero found himself at the back of the group with William by his side, eating the last part of the strawberry. "You think we'll have some meat tonight?" William asked.

Nero shook his head, "I think we're just gonna get porridge." He told him as he swung the white stick that the strawberry had been stuck on around and against the wheat grass.

William hummed softly and watched as Nero played around with the stick. They were getting close to the station and on the very skirts of where the wheat fields ended and the dirt road started when the two boys stopped and looked up as someone stepped in front of them. The two of them saw Xerxes, covered in dirt mostly, looking rather angry at the two young boys. "Slacking again are we?" He spoke to the boys.

The two poor boys were so shocked, they didn't know what to do as he came closer. Xerxes shoved William a side, causing him to fall back onto the ground. Nero glanced over at his friend before looking back at the advancing male. It was then that his motor skill decided to kick in and turned around and started to run away from the other. However, Nero wasn't quick enough.

He felt Xerxes' large hand grab him by the neck and yank him to the ground, pushing him on his back. Nero heart was practically beating out of his chest and his eyes were wide with terror. He begged him to stop as he started to get on top of him and pinned his arms beside his side with his legs and raised his fist.

Nero saw it coming, but it didn't hurt any less.

The young child's head snapped to the side as heat erupted from the side of his face. It was a hot sting and before he could open his mouth to scream out in pain, Xerxes' other hand came down and made Nero's head snap back to the other side, this time feeling something warm dripping across his lips and chin. When he glanced up, he could see his blood start to stain the teen's fist as they kept connecting with the sides of his head.

Nero could faintly hear William yelling in the background about something, but there was now a ringing in his ears that he could barely hear what Xerxes' was yelling at him. The ringing in his ears got worse with each bunch and the next thing he knew he couldn't breath. Xerxes' hand stopped long enough to wrap themselves around his throat, cutting off his air supply. The smaller boy started gasping, struggling and trying to break free of the other's hold. His vision was getting blurry but he could still see Xerxes staring down at him with dark eyes. All while Nero's chest heaved deeply, trying to get air in and out of his lungs. There was so much hatred in his eyes, and as he stared back at him, felt a sudden rush of anger enter his body.

He didn't know what he had done to cause so much hatred. Nero had done nothing. Nothing. There was no justified reason for Xerxes to be beating him up right now, for him to be killing him right now.

Nero's skin started to turn a horrifyingly blue color in certain spots, the color along with the rich red of his blood stood out starkly against his pale skin. He continued to let out strangled gasps of air, tasting his blood as it dribbled into his gaping mouth. Slowly his vision was darkening and just as he felt as if he was going to pass out, Xerxes' grip loosen complete and felt him get off of him.

The pale boy rolled onto his side, coughing up blood and spitting it out on the ground beside of him as he finally took in a breath of air. He felt hot tears sting his eyes and mix with the blood that was dripping against his face, making it seem like he was crying blood. Nero propped himself up a bit on his hands as he stilled laid on his side, turning his head to see what had happened to Xerxes. He saw him standing over a scared William, who was sitting on the ground, and his hands up to block his face.

Xerxes started wailing on him, his fists coming down against those dark locks of hair. Seeing his friend being hurt uncapped something inside of Nero, and on quivering legs started to stand up. His body swayed a bit as he tried to stand up straight, his pale eyes bloodshot and looked to be bleeding. "Let him go!" Nero yelled, his voice shaking and cracking.

It was enough to get the older male's attention. "You don't tell me what to do, you rotten child." He retorted, stopping his assault on William and instead started to advance towards Nero once again.

Nero's fists clenched at his sides as he narrowed his eyes at the taller male. The beaten child felt something suddenly tugging him in all different directions, something that he couldn't explain. At first he felt as if there were sparks flying all around him and moving inside of him, he was so consumed by this feeling he didn't notice that Xerxes had stopped a few footsteps away from. Nero was so awestruck by this feeling flowing through him that he didn't realize that the boy in front of him suddenly couldn't breathe.

When he did, Nero's mind wanted to focus harder on it. Xerxes was hurting, good. He needed to feel pain, needed to feel what he had done to him. He needed a taste of his own medicine. The older teen started gasps and clawing at his throat as he tried to breathe even though there was nothing around his neck. The other needed to pay for what he had done to him, and what he had done to the other kids. If Nero could just focus hard enough...long enough he could actually-

"Nero! What are you doing to him!? Stop it!" William's voice entered his mind and just like that, his focus was broken and Xerxes fell to the ground, unmoving.

William stared at Nero but he couldn't read his expression for long because he took off running afterwards. Nero looked down at Xerxes who was passed out on the ground. He knew he wasn't dead...he just _knew_. Yet he really, _really_ wanted him to be, to stop all his torment and to put an end to it.

A few minutes later William came back with the owner of the slave station. William must have told him what had happened because the next that happened was that the small boy was being dragged away from Xerxes. Nero was dragged back to the station but instead of going through the front doors, he was pulled back into the backyard where the owner opened up one of the few sheds in the back, shoved Nero inside of it.

The young male looked up through his fuzzy and unfocused vision as the door sealed off the last bit of light.

* * *

"And how exactly do you plan on retrieving this boy?" General Hux asked Kylo Ren as they walked back from their brief meeting with Supreme Leader Snoke.

Kylo Ren had told Snoke about the boy and that they should try and claim the boy for themselves. Personally, Hux didn't know why they needed another Jedi, well not even a Jedi, an untrained, misguided, child who probably wants to be fight for the light. If it were up to him, he would probably just put a bounty on his head or kill him and call it a day. Though, he had a feeling that the Jedi Knight wanted an apprentice of his own, since the young Rey girl was able to escape from his grasp.

"Let me worry about that." Kylo said, his voice distorted from the mask he was wearing.

It took almost everything Hux had to not roll his eyes, "I would but seeing as how we need to make sure we don't lose any more men and to show the Resistance that destroying Starkiller base didn't and won't halt our advances. It would be rather kind of you to at least talk over your plans before running head first into the Resistance's base to try and kidnap the child. Besides, who knows if the child will even be there by the time you and a fleet of our men get to their base?" Hux questioned and looked over at Kylo as he stayed silent.

They were quiet for a while as they walked down the black and grey hallway, passing some stormtroopers on the way.

"I will not go to the boy." Kylo said as his steps slowed ever so slightly.

"Oh?" Hux said, raising an eyebrow at the taller male.

"No," he said as he stopped outside a closed door, to which he then opened. Hux could hear the sudden scream and pathetic pleading from the man that Captain Phasma had picked up on her trip to Wayland. "The boy will come to me." Kylo said before stepping into the room and hearing the man's voice fall to a whispering plead and begging.

Then the door closed behind him and the screams were silenced.

* * *

Nero opened the door and practically threw himself in Poe's arms, who was more than startled and cursed loudly as they both stumbled and fell to the ground. The pale boy looked at Poe who seemed to be somewhat out of it himself, since they did have a few too many drinks at the party with the other pilots. So pushing him over probably wasn't helping him in the least bit. "Jeez kid, what's got you in a hurry?" He groan and sat up, making Nero back off of him and kneel.

"Sorry, I-uh, wanted to talk to General Leia about something is all." Nero muttered and watched as Poe rubbed the back of his head.

"Isn't it a little late to be running around? Can't it wait 'til morning?" Poe asked and looked at Nero for a moment, "Or is it something concerning the force?"

"Oh, no I just um...nevermind it can wait until morning." Nero said slowly getting up.

"You wanna talk about it? You don't look so good? Or maybe you should go back to bed?" Poe said getting up, but much slower.

"No it's fine, I think...I think I need to take a little walk. Don't worry about me." He said and gave the other a small smile.

Poe didn't seem so convinced, but ended up shrugging his shoulder and patted Nero on his back before telling him that he would be in his cabin if he needed him. He waited for the other to disappear going off and trying to find a quiet place for just a few moments.

Instead of simply going back to his room, Nero wandered the hallways, seeing some of the Resistance members who were on the night shift and doing a few things here and there. The force wielder found himself wandering towards the control room and decided to maybe hang around there and see how things actually worked around here, without any rude, interrupting captains or anything. The pale male walked through the doors to see only a handful of people working at the computers, and two of the commanders from before monitoring something at large hologram table. Nero walked over and was glad that the woman from before greeted him with a smile. "Isn't a bit late for you to be taking a walk?" She asked him as Nero approached the table and placed his hands on its rim.

"I guess it is, but I couldn't sleep. I wanted to talk to General Leia, but I suppose that can wait 'til morning." Nero said.

The commander smiled and pulled up some sort of chart on the table, "Well, Leia is very capable of many things, but if she isn't available, I'm sure myself or one of the other commanders can assist you." She said, making the chart disappear from view and pulled up another one.

"Oh well...it's not that pressing of a matter." Nero lied, "It was just something stupid now that I think about it."

"Well if you want to talk about something stupid, I'm sure someone here would be more than happy to lend an ear." She said with a smile.

Nero smiled back and took a seat and watched as the commander went through a few other things. He watched with interest, even though he didn't really understand what the charts implied or anything of that sort. After a while he reached out and his finger brushed against a file, opening it up to show a few pictures of random people. He noticed the commander looking at him through the corner of her eyes and closed the file, mumbling an apology. "No, don't worry about it. Have you ever used this kind of technology before?" She asked him.

The male shook his head, "No," he told her, looking back at the table, "the first time I rode in a ship was with Poe when he helped me get off of Wayland." He told her, "And I might have accidently pressed a few buttons that made the ship go a bit crazy."

The commander laughed a bit at that, and then told him to come sit next to her. "It's rather simple, here I'll teach you a few tricks of the trade." She said and Nero did just that.

* * *

Nero and the commander were at it for a good two hours or so, looking at files and documents together over the hologram. It was very interesting to say the least. He got the hang of most things but with being a slave and working for most of his life, and then being sold off to Ja'har for the other half, technology was not a strong suit for him in the least bit. Though with the commanders help, it seemed a little less intimidating to him.

All was well, and the commander let Nero read over some historical text of the Resistance and the Republic for some time, while she answered a call from one of the Resistance's personnel that was stationed a few towns from where the base was. He wasn't too interested in the call, since they were simply talking about what was going on it town, and only looked over a few times.

After some time had passed, the person on the other end was about to end the transmission when he told the commander to wait a moment and stepped out of frame. By this time Nero had finished reading the documents and was waiting for the commander to be done with the call, when the person came back onto screen. The man looked rather worried and when he spoke up his voice was rather shaken. "Commander I'm sending you something that one of our men found in the city." He said, and as the words left his mouth and image popped up in the center of the screen.

The commander and Nero both looked up at the image, for a moment couldn't believe what he was seeing. There in the center of the hologram table was a picture of him, with a bounty on his head for...holy angels, Nero didn't think he was reading that number right. He had never seen so many zeros in his life. His mouth had fallen open ever so slightly, and his pale eyes were wide as he looked at the image.

At the bottom of the image was a short paragraph that read, ' _Nero, age unknown. Wanted by the First Order, and is armed and dangerous. Bring to nearest commander or outpost, with him alive and unharmed. Pale features and is normally seen wearing on old brown cloak, contact if you know any information about him.'_

Nero was still looking at the image with disbelief as the commander immediately called for someone to get General Leia in here now.

A short time later Leia was walking into the control room with a few other people, looking at the screen and then back at Nero who had yet to look away from the image still floating in the middle of the room. "Do we know who posted this?" Leia asked, walking towards the table.

"Some of our men said that spotted stormtroopers posting them around some of the towns. We've also been informed that some of the local bounty hunters have caught wind of the prize money." The commander said.

Leia looked at Nero who had yet to say anything yet, and still hadn't looked away from the screen. "We will not give you up to the First Order so easily." Leia said, which finally made Nero turn and look at her.

He stood up slowly from his seat and turned to face her. "I can't just stay here and let you all do this work for me. Besides, I'm the one they want, if that means that this puts a bigger target on the Resistance's back then I-"

"You will not be handed over to the First Order, not while I am in charge here." Leia cut him off, which made him close his mouth.

"You may not be part of this team, but that does not mean that your life is less valuable than the ones in this room here." Leia said, "Now, we will work to try and get rid of this bounty and keep you safe." She said.

Nero stayed quiet for a time afterwards and watched as everyone in the room started doing something while he just stood there in shock and bewilderment. He wanted to ask what he could do, but before that, there was a chime coming from the hologram.

"We're getting a message from someone near one of our outpost." A pilot said, that was working at one of the other smaller monitors.

"Put it through." Leia ordered and as she said, a person appeared on screen.

"No…" Nero said under his voice as he stepped closer to the table, which caused Leia to look at him from the corner of her eyes and then told them to play the message.

The image was of the man Nero knew all too well, and when he heard his voice come through he cringed.

"I am Ja'har, Master of Trade and Mystics, and owner of the person named Nero that has been taken by the Resistance. Nero was bought by me from a slave station, and therefor is my property under law. If returned in the next six hours, no harm will to the Resistance, or any of their outpost here on D'Qar. No harm will be done to the boy-" "Liar" Nero said under his breath, "if handed over within the allotted time. If you chose to make the wiser choice of handing him over, he is to come alone. If we discover any other members of the Resistance in aiding him, it will not end well."

The message ended at that, and the room was silent. It made Nero's stomach turn and flip in all different and uncomfortable ways. The image disappeared with a sound of static and afterwards, Nero looked at everyone in the room seeing that they were staring at him.

"We will not hand you over to the man who-"

"Stop it." Nero cut off the general this time.

"Just stop it. Please do not act as if you care for my well-being. I know that not all of you feel safe or comfortable in my presence." Nero spoke out loud, and didn't have to look around to see guilty eyes looking away.

"They're right, I am dangerous, but I do not want to see other people get hurt because of me." He said.

"We can find a way to put a stop to this, so that no one will get hurt." The commander said.

"I'm sorry, but I highly doubt that. Besides, he is right, under law I am still binded to him. Though, not for long if I have anything to say about it." Nero said, and turned his back to the table and started to make his way out of the room.

"You don't want to kill him." Leia called out to him, "Having someone's blood on your hands is a terrible and haunting thing for a person." She said, but Nero kept walking.

After he left, everyone in the room looked towards their leader, who looked over at the commander. "We can keep him here?"She offered.

"No we couldn't, not if he really wanted to leave." She said.

"So that's it? We're just letting him leave?" She asked her.

"I'm afraid so, let's just hope that Rey does find Luke and everything works out for the better. We can only hope." She told the room.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find a speeder that no one was using, seeing as how most of the pilots and other soldiers were fast asleep still. Though at this time, the sun was slowly and gradually starting to rise over the horizon. Nero was able to get it started and put on the helmet that was hanging on the handlebars, and drove off and away from the base. It had already been almost three hours since the transmission and the surfaced wanted picture, so that meant that he had less than three hours before bad things started happening to the Resistance, which they didn't need and couldn't afford to have now.

Besides, this gave Nero the perfect opportunity to go after Ja'har and make him pay for what he had done to him for all those years. Yes, the First Order was now looking for him, but at this moment, he didn't care, the opportunity for revenge was within his grasp and he wasn't going to let anyone take that away from him. He could worry about the First Order later, so long as he got want he wanted.

It took Nero over an hour to get to where Ja'har had been when he sent the transmission. It was of course a trade town, and it seemed like everyone was still in their beds, since there was barely anyone on the streets, minus a few scavengers going through some trash bins. Nero turned off the speeder and parked it near a building, before pulling off the helmet and tugging his cloak over his head. He slid off the small vehicle and started to walk down the street in search of his former master.

As he did so, he placed his right hand on the hilt of his lightsaber, so he could end this as soon as he could. Well, maybe he'd chop of his legs first and then...wait, no he just wanted to teach him a lesson. Nero realized what he was thinking was dark, a little too dark and in the back of his mind he knew he should pull back, to get on the speeder and just take off, but he was already here, and he could be so close to never having to worry about Ja'har ever again. It seemed too good to pass it up now.

Nero continued to wander the streets as the sun started to rise a little higher in the sky, casting long shadows along the dirt street, and more and more residents started to emerge from their homes. He quicken his pace a bit and took a quick turn down a small side street, looking around. As he did so, he noticed some people looking at him strangely and whispering to themselves. Nero took another turn and was back on the main road again.

For some reason he felt angry that he couldn't find him. He was the one that wanted him, so why wasn't he here? Why wasn't he making himself known? It was irritating him, the man was still a god damned coward, he should have known after all his years of having to spend it by his side.

He was growing a bit impatient and had to take a few deep breaths before he could continue looking for him. After some time, he wandered into an alleyway to clear his mind and tried to reach out to him with the force.

It took him a few long minutes but he finally felt him. Nero took off from the alleyway and back onto the streets as quickly as his legs could carry him. Though there seemed to be crowds starting to form further and further down the streets where he had felt Ja'har. ' _The bastard…_ ' Nero thought.

He quickly started to move his way through the crowd of people who seemed hell bent on keeping their spots and he really didn't want to do this but his anger was boiling over and he really didn't want to but-

Nero grabbed for his lightsaber and held the hilt in his hands, which got some people nearby that were looking at him to move, and once those people started moving it was like a pathway opened up for him. He didn't stop long enough to question it and by the time he had made it through the other side he saw him.

Quicker than ever, Nero pressed his thumb against his lightsaber and the familiar whirl of it entered his ears. He heard the screams and commotion going on behind him as he moved his lightsaber around in the air, but his eyes were focused on the man in front of him, not the bystanders.

He stalked forward, saber pointed at the man, who was wearing a hooded cloak. He got close enough to yank the cloak right off of him, revealing the man underneath. Nero placed the weapon gently against his neck, just grazing the skin. "I've been waiting for this moment for ten years Ja'har." He whispered menacingly.

He saw the man trembling and a scared look enter his eyes that made Nero want to smile with joy, that he was finally going to feel all of the pain and suffering that he had inflicted upon him. "Is there anything want you to say before I drive this through your heart?" He asked him.

"Please...please kill me, don't make me go back to him, please! I beg of you kill me now!" He told him, which through Nero off and actually stepped back.

"What? You..you want-" Nero cut himself off, completely baffled.

Since when did this man have a death wish? He always talked about becoming the richest man in all of the galaxies and having everyone bow down to him, yet now he was asking him to end this all? That didn't make sense.

"Please, kill me Nero, if he takes me back I don't know what he'll do to me, please just kill me!" He begged him, and even grabbed for his hand that was holding his lightsaber.

He yanked his hand back and watched as he looked back at him with tears in his eyes. "Please, please…" He continued to beg.

"Fine." Nero snapped, eyes narrowing at his long time tormentor. "I'll kill you, but I won't make it quick." He told him and brought the lightsaber down, cutting off Ja'har's right arm completely off.

He screamed bloody murder and fell to his knees as he looked over at his severed arm. There was a crowd cowering behind him, he could faintly hear their terrified comments but seeing Ja'har crying in pain, crying for mercy reminded him so much of himself.

Nero swung the lightsaber again, cutting his head clean off from his shoulders and watched as the body slumped to the side before falling into the dirt. He didn't realize he was breathing so heavily until afterwards, and suddenly had a hard time getting air into his lungs, and felt his blood rushing around his body at a panicked rate.

His hands were trembling as they still clutched the lightsaber and felt his shoulder quivering uncontrollably. He actually did it, he actually killed him. Something so long ago he never thought would happen and now it has.

But why didn't he feel good? In fact, he felt as if he was going to throw up instead. So, with shaky fingers, he turned off his lightsaber, and now that the sound was muted, heard the footsteps and felt himself focus on the overpowering force that was suddenly behind him. Nero spun around too quickly and almost stumbled to the side, falling over, if it wasn't for the quick hand of the towering man in front of him. He was dressed in all black, with a mask covering his face.

"Don't worry," he said, his voice deep and distorted from the mask, "that'll get easier."

And then Nero felt his gloved hand touch his temple and everything was smothered in darkness.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Sorry this took so long to update, school has been a pain in the butt. Anyhow, I really hope you all like the fourth chapter, please comment/review if you want! Plus I would love to hear feedback from you guys! Or PM me if you have any questions! Happy writing!**_


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